Pittsburgh Pirates vs. San Francisco Giants: What To Expect

After performing above what many expected in the month of April, the Pittsburgh Pirates have come back to Earth a little over the past few weeks. As they look to right the ship, they will have a tough contest as they welcome the red hot San Francisco Giants into PNC Park for a four-game series.

After having a stretch of winning or trying six straight series, the Pittsburgh Pirates have not had a good go of things lately. They have dropped each of their last three series to the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, and Cincinnati Reds and have seen their record go from a tightly 12-11 to its current mark of 15-21. The pitching has been solid over these last few weeks, but the offense has struggled to get anything going. They have scored two runs me less in seven of their last nine games, and just haven't been giving the pitching staff the offensive support they have deserved. Without consistent hitting, good pitching means nothing and that is a hard lesson this team has learned as of late.

As they continue their current seven-game homestand, things don't get much easier as they get set to welcome in the red hot San Francisco Giants. The Giants enter Thursday night's game 22-14 and have won four of their last five games. Their latest series saw them complete a two-game sweep of the Texas Rangers and before that, they took two of three from the San Diego Padres. The Giants are one of the biggest surprise songs of the 2021 season and currently sit in first place in the National League West Division. Because of COVID, this is the first match-up between the two teams since the 2019 season, when the Pirates went 5-2 against the Giants in seven games. Today, we look at this upcoming four-game series and see what to expect in this four-game series.

The Red Hot Giants

The San Francisco Giants have been one of the hottest, and most surprising team's in Major League Baseball this season. In their last 10 games, the Giants have gone 6-4 and have risen to the top of the National League West Division. After sitting below both the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres for much of the month of April, the Giants gained the momentum they needed in a series with the San Diego Padres. The Giants took on the Padres for three games at Oracle Park and ended up winning the series two games to one. The Giants were actually outscored in the series 16-8 but wins in games one and two were enough to propel them to a series win.

While the Pirates and Giants are very similar team's offensively, ranking 22nd and 23rd in team batting average respectively, the big difference between the two teams comes in the pitching. The Giants have combined for sixth lowest ERA in all of baseball (3.34) and the third-lowest starter ERA in all of baseball (2.89). Three of the four pitchers the Giants have glowing in this series have ERAs under 2.50. The best of these starters was pitcher Kevin Gausman has made seven starts for the Giants and is 3-0 with a 1.97 ERA in 45.2 innings of work. While the Giant's offense hasn't been that impressive this season, Brandon Belt and Carl Yastremski have led the way as of late, each hitting .267 over their last seven games played.

Keep The Pitching Consistent

Even though the Pirates haven't been getting a lot of wins as of late, one thing they are getting is consistent pitching, especially from their starters. Over the last nine games, the Pirates starting pitcher has allowed two earned runs or less eight times, the only exception being Mitch Keller's implosion the other day. You would think that means the Pirates have been winning a lot of games, however, that was not the case. During that same nine-game stretch, the Pirates have gone 3-6 and have lost all three series played during that time. The staff has been led by two guys who will each see time in this series in Tyler Anderson and JT Brubaker.

Anderson was signed this off-season as a free agent to be the veteran presence in a young Pirates rotation, and he has taken to his role nicely. He has made seven starts this season for the Pirates and has gone 3-3 with a 3.05 ERA over his first 41.1 innings of work. Anderson has not allowed more than two earned runs in a game since his April 8th start against the Chicago Cubs and is the only Pirates pitcher to go at least 5.0 innings in every outing this season. As for JT Brubaker, he has been the Pirate's best pitcher so far in his first full MLB season. Brubaker has made seven starts as well and has gone 3-2 with a 2.58 ERA over 38.1 innings. Both have been "stoppers" for this rotation and will be looked at to lead the rotation in this four-game series.

Finding Offensive Consistency

The Pittsburgh Pirates have faced a lot of injuries lately, and one thing they desperately need is consistency. The lineup has fluctuated greatly over the last couple of games, with guys trying to fill the void of Colin Moran, Gregory Polanco, and the recently absent Bryan Reynolds. This has meant putting some players with little Big League experience in some key contributing roles. Ka'ai Tom has batted third twice in the past four games and Wilmer Difo, a career utility guy, was the Pirates leading hitter on Wednesday with a .250 batting average. With all of these young guys getting shots this season, the Pirates are hoping for some of them to actually come through and start hitting consistently.

Of the new guys, Troy Stokes Jr. is the only one who has been any sort of big contributor over the last couple of games. His big night came on Tuesday when he went 2-3 with 2 RBI in the Pirates 7-2 game two win in the series with Cincinnati. He has been playing great defense in his first three Big League games, and he is hoping his offense can come around. With the recent injury of Phillip Evans on Wednesday, the Pirates will most likely be dipping into their Minor Leagues once again for a replacement. It is an opportunity for a guy like Will Craig to finally get his chance to perform at the Big League level. There will be a lot of players getting a "shot" this year, but it is the ones who can be consistent that will impact the Pirates down the road.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (15-21) and San Francisco Giants (22-14) start their four-game weekend series tonight at PNC Park at 6:35 pm. Wil Crowe (0-1, 4.06) takes the mound looking to turn in a fourth consecutive strong start, after allowing two earned runs or left in his last two starts, as he goes against Anthony DeSclafani (2-1, 2.40) for the Giants. You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet, listen on 93.7 The Fan, or follow along with us on Twitter by following @Buccos_Cove.

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